NEW YORK — 

Police have arrested a 26-year-old man with a weapon in keeping with the gun used to kill the top of the biggest U.S. well being insurer, New York’s police commissioner stated Monday.

The person was taken into custody after police acquired a tip that he had been noticed at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, stated NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

“Additionally they recovered clothes, together with a masks in keeping with these worn by our needed particular person,” Tisch stated. “Additionally recovered was a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the ID our suspect used to verify into his New York Metropolis hostel earlier than the capturing incident,” Tisch stated.

UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was killed final Wednesday in what police stated was a “brazen, focused” assault as he walked alone to the Hilton from a close-by lodge, the place UnitedHealthcare’s father or mother firm, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor convention, police stated.

The shooter seemed to be “mendacity in look ahead to a number of minutes” earlier than approaching the manager from behind and opening fireplace, Tisch stated. He used a 9 mm pistol that police stated resembled the weapons farmers use to place down animals with out inflicting a loud noise.

Within the days for the reason that capturing, police turned to the general public for assist by releasing a group of images and video — together with footage of the assault, in addition to photos of the suspect at a Starbucks beforehand.

Pictures taken within the foyer of a hostel on Manhattan’s Higher West Facet confirmed the suspect grinning after eradicating his masks, police stated.

Investigators have steered the gunman could have been a disgruntled worker or shopper of the insurer.

Ammunition discovered close to Thompson’s physique bore the phrases “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase utilized by insurance coverage business critics.

The gunman hid his identification with a masks through the capturing but left a path of proof, together with a backpack he ditched in Central Park, a cellphone present in a pedestrian plaza, and a water bottle and protein bar wrapper that police say he purchased at Starbucks minutes earlier than the assault.

Monday’s growth got here as canines and divers returned to New York’s Central Park whereas the dragnet for Thompson’s killer stretched right into a sixth day.

Investigators have been combing the park for the reason that Wednesday capturing and have been looking not less than certainly one of its ponds for 3 days.

On Friday, police discovered the backpack that they are saying the killer discarded as he fled from the crime scene to an uptown bus station, the place they consider he left the town on a bus.

Retracing the gunman’s steps utilizing surveillance video, investigators say the shooter fled into Central Park on a bicycle, emerged from the park with out his backpack after which ditched the bicycle.

He then walked a few blocks and acquired right into a taxi, arriving on the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is close to the northern tip of Manhattan and provides commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny stated.

The FBI introduced late Friday that it was providing a $50,000 reward for info resulting in an arrest and conviction, including to a reward of as much as $10,000 that the NYPD has provided. Police say they consider the suspect acted alone.

Late Saturday, police launched two extra images of the suspect that seemed to be from a digicam mounted inside a taxi. The primary reveals him outdoors the car and the second reveals him trying by the partition between the again seat and the entrance of the cab. In each, his face is partially obscured by a blue masks.

Via the park search, the NYPD has taken steps to reduce disruption to guests, resulting in an odd juxtaposition of joggers, vacationers and an lively crime scene.

On Monday, a small part of the park was cordoned off with blue and white police tape, giving divers looking a pond an space to alter and get within the water. Okay-9 models sniffed leaf-covered planters between strolling paths.

At one level, a gaggle of about 30 French-speaking vacationers adopted a information down a path, however they could not go any additional due to the police tape. Earlier than turning again, a lot of them whipped out their telephones to snap a photograph of the divers.